The state of Arizona, now running a $3 billion budget deficit, is planning to sell up to 32 government properties for quick cash — possibly including its House and Senate […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Isn’t “power politics” a redundant term?
Joan Vennochi has a typically well-written but surprisingly angry column in Sunday's Boston Globe on Sen. Ted Kennedy's plea for a law allowing Democratic Gov. Patrick to appoint a replacement […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
To compete or not: That is the question
In our newly released summer issue of CommonWealth, I explore the issue of non-compete employment covenants, a multi-syllabic mouthful that can stop a Massachusetts worker from leaving Company A and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The recession’s latest victim: campaign finance innovation
Al Franken isn't the only news in Minnesota politics. One of the Gopher State's more innovative approaches to good government — giving citizens refunds of up to $50 for political donations, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The shadow over ethics reform
The elbows came flying out, with everyone rushing to take credit for the ethics reform bill that emerged from the State House this week. And it is, by all accounts, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Gains and credit in the state’s tax foundation
The $27.4 billion budget headed for the governor’s desk contains outside sections that would attempt to smooth out the state’s year-to-year budget gyrations and reveal whether the hundreds of millions […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Bunker Hill Day bunk
If the cries of outrage over the possible elimination of Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day as paid holidays for government workers in Suffolk County didn't already seem absurd to any […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Candidates with more money won in Mass. last year — with a dozen exceptions
Legislative elections nearly always go to the candidate with more money, and the candidate with more money is almost always an incumbent. That's the upshot of the 71-page report released […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Lessons from the New York Senate
With a third consecutive House speaker under indictment and a membership that seems more committed to preserving "hack holidays" than enacting reform, the Massachusetts Legislature isn't held in very high […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Are Sal’s pals in trouble?
And by that I don't mean the ex-speaker's three co-defendants (who certainly are) or former aides or other business associates (none of whom have been charged in the case), but […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Sal makes three
Today's federal indictment of former House speaker Sal DiMasi fills out the ignominious trifecta many had been anticipating for several months: three straight Massachusetts House speakers indicted on charges related to activities […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Pension commission chair doesn’t mince words on termination benefits
State leaders may be wavering on some aspects of pension reform, but Alicia Munnell, the Boston College professor heading a special commission on the state pension system, is suffering from none of that. […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Punting on pension reform
Lots of sizzle, but not much steak. That's the best way to describe the narrow focus by legislative leaders and Gov. Deval Patrick on a pension perk that has been […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Globe pension ‘scoop’ is old news in the pages of CommonWealth
The Boston Globe, which teed up a story on its front-page yesterday on the generous, early pensions being granted to ex-lawmakers who choose to leave office, suggested it has uncovered the latest outrage in series of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
All eyes on House, but with very different views
A "broken culture on Beacon Hill" or "one of the most audacious experiments of our time"? Depending on which Boston Globe columnist you read this morning, you would have a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
George Keverian, reformist Speaker and multimedia pioneer, dies
According to a statement from House Speaker Robert DeLeo's office, former Speaker George Keverian died this morning. John McDonough, who served in the House under Keverian (photo by Craig MacCormack), wrote […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download, Transportation
Patrick finally embraces gas tax increase
Gov. Deval Patrick made a very persuasive case for raising the state gasoline tax immediately by 19 cents and having it rise in the future in tandem with the Consumer Price Index. My […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Blue Mass Group: One-party state may not be so bad
Would a genuine two-party state in Massachusetts lead to the something like the fiscal mess now plaguing California, in which Republican legislators have defied Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Democratic majority by blocking […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Rep. Murphy no longer has many private business dealings
Rep. Charles A. Murphy, the House's recently appointed Ways and Means Committee chairman, told CW Unbound in a phone interview today that he has shed all of his private business dealings and faces no potential conflicts of interest in […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
“Starting Line 2009” tackles DeLeo, State House scandals, and the bleak economy
Is new House Speaker Robert DeLeo really just "a hamburger guy", and are other members of the House no more than "sheep"? Do voters pay more attention to public pension […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Freshman rep gets it right on pension perk
Freshman state Rep. Jim Arciero has only been in office for a month, but he seems to know an antiquated taxpayer-funded boondoggle when he sees it. The Westford Democrat has […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Follow the money
Follow the money. That was the advice Bob Woodward received from "Deep Throat" during the Watergate scandal and it's the advice reporters should be following on Beacon Hill during the upcoming debate […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Beacon Hill scandals and the one-party state
In the wake of Sal DiMasi's departure from Beacon Hill, CommonWealth magazine associate editor Alison Lobron weighs in on the Bay State's one-party political culture in today's Boston Globe: After […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Bay State “lurch” to the right?
In what can most charitably be chalked up to the dangers of wading into territory outside of one's zone of competence, The New Republic 's Marty Peretz has weighed in […]
